More than meets the eye

A lone Metro prepares to turn north on Tremont Avenue on a raw Monday
morning. Not long after this picture was taken, a few inches of snow fell.
Both photos taken on 7 April 2003.

A closer view: Truly ancient (up to 1951), at left, and merely old (1970-74),
at right.

Vestal and Tremont avenues

This signal installation, on the citys South Side, is terribly
mundane looking on first sight. But it has some significance. First, it
has a single-head Art Deco signal manufactured by Crouse-Hinds until 1951,
and is mounted on the same spanwire as a later-generation signal the city
bought in droves from 1970 to 1974. The signal control box itself dates
from the early 1970s as well.

This installation also points to the fact that, around 1980, the city
started reusing signals that might have otherwise been discarded. This
intersection did not even have a signal until the late 1970s; the Webjefe
does not even remember seeing this particular installation until about
1980. This is a relatively recent installation. Now, it is one of the
few places left in Binghamton with an old Art Deco signal. Catch it while
you can. By the way, the South Side is one of Binghamtons most delightful
sectionsit even has the Ross Park Zoo, which has been in existence
since 1875.